San Jose offers settlement in excessive force complaint from SJSU group

Share this:

Courtesy KPIX/CBS5 — A frame grab from videotape taken the night of the 2006 Mardi Gras celebration in downtown San Jose depicts an unidentified San Jose police officer striking San Jose State student Sheretta Henderson across the backs of her legs with his baton as the officer and his colleagues attempted to clear revelers from downtown. To accompany ssjm1102mardigras by Sean Webby.

San Jose city officials are looking to offer $70,000 to four San Jose State friends who accused city police of roughing them up during a chaotic Mardi Gras night four years ago.

The City Council is expected to vote whether to approve the settlement Tuesday.

Earlier this year, a jury found that the officers did not use excessive force against three of the women or violate their civil rights. The jury deadlocked on a case in which one of the students, Sheretta Henderson, was struck in the back with a baton that night — resulting in a mistrial.

Lawyers for the women were poised for a retrial, appeals or both.

San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle said the settlement was “a number we can live with, a good settlement for the city. We avoid the expense and risk of additional trials.” Matt Gonzalez, the lawyer for the women, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Police Department has been dogged with allegations of overly aggressive policing and racial profiling in recent years and faces other lawsuits. The city has paid out $5.47 million during the past 7½ ﻿years for excessive force allegations against the police department, according to the latest statistics.

The lawsuits were sparked by events that happened after the group of college friends, two of whom had law enforcement backgrounds, went out on a crowded and rowdy Mardi Gras night in 2006.

Natasha Burton headed a youth advisory group for the San Diego Police Department, where her mother was an officer for nine years. The department’s police union had given her a scholarship to San Jose State. Another, Christina Sanchez, was majoring in justice studies while working part-time for the campus police department.

The friends said they were peacefully trying to get back to campus after stopping for burritos that night when officers protecting City Hall during the sometimes violent celebration struck three of them with batons. An officer used pepper spray against another member of the group.

One student alleged she was handcuffed while officers suggested that she had come to San Jose “from Oakland,” which Burton, who is African-American, took as a racial slur. A Bay Area television station, KPIX, videotaped an officer striking one of the women in the back of the legs with a baton as he was moving her away from the area.

San Jose police reported that an excessive force complaint filed by one of the women was “sustained” by its internal affairs investigators. IA investigations generally look at whether an officer followed policy and procedure.

Police would not elaborate about whether any of the officers were disciplined over their actions that night. But police reports written at the time describe the women as combative and say one of them struck an officer in the chest, which she denied. The city maintained the officers used reasonable force against the young women, who were not heeding their commands.

More in News

Since chief executive Chip Bergh took over the company in 2011, Levi's has overhauled its image. In the past few years, it has dodged threats from athleisure companies and other denim sales. Last year, Levi's churned $5.6 billion in sales.